Get your kids ready for spring and summer with these 18 fun bees crafts for toddlers and preschoolers. We have found lots of activities for you to enjoy with your kids and help them to learn about bees along the way.
To create a great 3D bee all you little ones need is a paper cup, and some craft materials. This is an easy activity for little ones, although they will need help cutting out the wings.
Paint the cup yellow and when it’s dry paint on the black stripes. Then stick on the googly eyes and draw a smile. A pipe cleaner cut in half makes great antennae. The shiny wings are made from wax paper and glued on.
This wooden bee is made for tiny hands and is really simple to make. The body of the bee is just a circle of wood. Kids will have fun painting it a bright yellow and sticking strips of black cardstock across it.
The big eyes are made from circles of white and black cards which are stuck on top of the bee’s body. A pointy triangle of black card makes a stinger and the textured wings are cut from folded cupcake liners.
A toilet roll bee is simple and most moms and teachers have a plentiful supply of this craft staple.
The cardboard roll is covered in yellow paper, or you could let the little ones paint it. Cut some thin strips of black card that they can wrap around the bee body.
Using a glue stick the googly eyes are stuck on the top. Use a marker to draw the smiley mouth. Then cut out the wing shapes and antennae and stick them to the cardboard body.
With a yellow pool noodle you can make bees for your whole class. Simply cut a length of 3–4 inches for each bee.
The stripe around the bee’s body is black craft paper which is glued on. Pre-cut the shape of the wings from black paper for the little ones to glue on.
Give each bee a pair of googly eyes and a cute fuzzy nose. Two antennae can be made from black card or pieces of black foam stuck on top of the bee’s head.
Preschoolers love puppets so help them to make these adorable bee stick puppets.
Two circles of yellow cardstock make up the body and head. Use a black marker to color in stripes and add eye stickers to the head. Draw a smile with the marker.
Use a hole punch on the bee body and thread some tulle through, tying a knot to secure and fashion the wings. Pipe cleaner antennae work great. Now tape a paper straw to the back of the bee to complete the puppet.
The easiest bee craft of all involves a paper plate, and some paint. Little kids will love this activity as it’s really simple. Use a paper plate and have the kids paint it yellow, alternatively use yellow paper plates.
They can use a paint brush or sponge to dab black dots across the plate to make the bee stripes. Glue googly eyes at the top.
Paint two clothespins black and stick pompoms dipped in black paint and dried on top of each one to make the antennae.
A simple craft for small children, this tissue paper craft will keep them busy as bees.
Cut out an oval in cardstock for the bee’s body and two circles for wings. You may want to outline where the yellow and black tissue paper should go.
Now they can crumple up the tissue paper and glue it to the bee’s body. They can also glue white tissue paper to the bee’s wings. Googly eyes at the top and pipe cleaner antennae and stinger finish off this fun craft.
This craft allows kids to make a bee crown that they can wear and use to invent bee games with their friends. Yellow cardstock is ideal for making the crown. Cut it into strips about 2 inches wide.
You will need a couple of strips for each crown. Let your kids color the black stripe in and then add two black pipe cleaners with pompoms for the antennae. A pointy triangle at the back of the crown makes a great stinger.
This is a great, tactile craft for preschoolers and toddlers. Let them paint their egg carton in bright yellow and allow it to dry.
Then making a small cut in the bottom of one side slip one end of black yarn into the slit and wrap around the body of the bee. Secure it in a slit on the opposite side.
The kids can glue on the googly eyes and draw a smile. Cut out some ovals for wings and glue them on top of the bee.
Tiny little bees made from pistachio shells make a great craft activity for small hands. Using empty and cleaned shells, markers or paints, craft paper and glue your preschoolers can create a whole hive of bees.
Let the kids paint the shells and use a marker to create the black stripes and cute faces. Cut out triangular paper wings that they can glue on, four for each bee.
They can be used as a game, stuck to paper for hanging on the wall or as occupants of a beehive.
Help your kids get creative making these fuzzy mini bees. Using yellow and black glitter pompoms, scoop sticks, wax paper and pipe cleaners making these adorable little bees will be tons of fun.
Help your kids to glue the black and yellow pompoms alternatively down the length of the scoop stick.
Two pieces of pipe cleaner serve as antennae. Glue on the googly eyes. Cut the wings from the wax paper and glue onto the back of the scoop stick.
Making a play dough bee is a wonderfully tactile activity for small children. Use a piece of bright yellow play dough and encourage children to make a round, fat bee body. Cut a pipe cleaner in half.
Let the children wrap one piece around the bee’s body, making the stripes. The other half can be bent into a V shape and pushed onto the top of the bee’s head for antennae. Give them some little googly eyes to put on the front of the bee’s face.
This craft is great for developing fine motor skills and your kids end up with a pet rock bee! Find some smooth stones and clean them. A great place to find smooth stones is at the river or creek.
With acrylic paint, have the kids paint the rock a bright yellow. Once it’s dry they can paint on the black stripes. White paint with black dots make great eyes and a happy smile. Use pale blue paint for the bee’s wings.
Bees and honeycombs are a great group craft activity for preschoolers. You can make a honeycomb out of cardboard tubes, dried pasta, or egg cartons. They can make the honeycomb together, painting, coloring and gluing.
Then each child can make their own bee to stick on top of the honeycomb. This could be a small individual craft or big enough to go on a classroom wall. It can be 2D or 3D and as colorful as you like.
Bees need flowers and flowers need bees so get your preschoolers making both. Print and cut out some bee and flower templates for them to color in themselves.
Once you have enough flowers and bees you can add them all to a large piece of card to display.
While making the flowers and bees you can explain to the children how the two of them work together to make new flowers and feed young bees.
Learning while doing is wonderful for small children, and they’re more likely to retain what they’ve learned.
When teaching small children about bees and their importance to the planet making a 3D beehive will help their understanding. Blow up a large balloon and have the children cover it in paper mache.
Let them paint it and once it is dry you can pop the balloon inside and remove it.
Have the kids decorate the beehive with some mini bees like the fuzzy pompoms ones mentioned earlier. You could hang the beehive up in the classroom or on a tree outside.
A simple activity for small hands is this craft stick bee. Get a largish craft stick and have the children paint or color it yellow. Then they can use a black marker to create the stripes on the bee’s body.
A circle of yellow cards stuck on the top of the stick makes a face which they can decorate with a smile and some googly eyes. Stick on pipe cleaner antennae and card wings to complete the bee.
Painting is one of younger children’s favorite activities so let them paint their bees. Even more than painting little ones love getting messy with paints, so this is the perfect craft for them.
Get some yellow paint and let them make thumbprint bees. They can then draw on the stripes, antennae and faces with markers afterward.
Final Thoughts
We hope that you have enjoyed our guide to 18 fun bee crafts for toddlers and preschoolers.
Hi, my name is Helena Waters and I was a teacher for 40 years before retiring last year.
During my time as a teacher I dedicated the majority of it to making classrooms as fun as possible, with educational parties, fun activities, and low cost entertainment that made the children excited about learning.
I taught children of all ages, from preschoolers to high school students. Now, with the pandemic having uprooted everything that children once knew about school and learning, I think that the need for my ideas is bigger than ever.
That is why I created School Sparks, a place in which I can write down and share all of my ideas on how to get students excited about going to school again. I hope that you’ll find some useful within a school setting, even at home too!
